MOSCOW - A former Russian oil tycoon serving an eight-year sentence for fraud has been transferred to Moscow to be tried on new charges, a court official said Tuesday.

Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky and his former business partner, Platon A. Lebedev, are charged with money laundering and misappropriation of oil, both on a large scale, The New York Times (NYSE:NYT) reported. Khodorkovsky's Web site said both are in the Matrosskaya Tikina Prison in Moscow.

Khodorkovsky owned Yukos Oil, which was seized by the government. His supporters say his legal difficulties are payback for his opposition to former President Vladimir Putin.

"All verdicts are possible in this country," said Karinna Moskalenko, a member of the former tycoon's defense team. "But for people like Khodorkovsky, everything is already planned out and decided as long